Wolfpack's Doeren excited about potential of QB Brissett

In this April 20, 2013 photo N.C. State quarterback Jacoby Brissett (12) looks to pass during the Kay Yow Spring Football game at Carter-Finley Stadium in Raleigh, N.C. Brissett knows he will face big expectations when he finally takes a snap for North Carolina State. Brissett, who has two years of eligibility remaining, takes over a team that won three games and went winless in the Atlantic Coast Conference for the first time since 1959. (AP Photo/News and Observer, Ethan Hyman) MANDATORY CREDIT-ETHAN HYMAN

GREENSBORO —

The word in the pre-preseason is that Jacoby Brissett can make all the necessary throws, owns a firm understanding of the North Carolina State football team’s offense and has the ideal personality, mentality and competitive spirit for an alpha dog quarterback.

Or if you prefer brevity, he’s already considered “the CEO” on offense — despite having yet to play in a game for the Wolfpack.

“We’re excited for Jacoby,” coach Dave Doeren said of the transfer from Florida at this week’s ACC Kickoff in Greensboro.

That enthusiasm and anticipation became plenty obvious during the second-year N.C. State coach’s session with reporters at Grandover Resort.

After suffering through a 3-9 season in which N.C. State went winless in the league for the first time in 54 years — a slide of eight straight ACC losses from Oct. 5 to Nov. 30 — Brissett clearly has been anointed as the answer to the quarterback inconsistencies that plagued the Wolfpack last year.

An injury shelved Brandon Mitchell early in the season and then Pete Thomas struggled to find his footing in an offensive system tailored toward Mitchell’s running ability.

Those issues are part of the past, now. And Brissett, the 6-foot-4, 236-pound redshirt junior who once carried elite credentials as a prep star out of West Palm Beach, Fla., is the present and future.

“I think Jacoby has the skill set, has the intangibles, all the things if you were recruiting a quarterback you would want him,” Doeren said. “Now we’ve got to get the pieces around him. It’s 11 guys playing (on offense) and he’s the CEO of those 11. He’s got to get them going the right direction and distribute the ball the right way. But I love what he brings to the table, though.”

What else specifically does he bring to said table?

“He’s so hungry, so excited,” Doeren said. “He can make all the throws, so that part of it you love, obviously. You don’t have to worry about what kind of routes you’re running, because he can throw it.

“Probably just his overall competitive spirit is what excites me the most about him. He’s just so driven to win. When you’re building a program that’s what you need. You need a bunch of guys that it hurts them to lose, that it’s personal. And it is for him.”

When he was the defensive coordinator at Wisconsin, Doeren recruited Brissett heavily out of high school. Later, soon after Doeren landed the N.C. State job in December 2012, Brissett chose the Wolfpack as his transfer destination.

At Florida, Brissett appeared in 13 games with three starting assignments combining the 2011 and 2012 seasons. The first two starts of his college career came at LSU and at Auburn in back-to-back weeks when he was a true freshman.

Doeren paused Monday amid his praise to caution that Brissett shouldn’t be viewed as one of college football’s veteran quarterbacks.

But then he went back to extolling Brissett’s virtues, with mentions of the two seasons of spring practices that he has logged, the behind-the-scenes learning he accomplished during N.C. State’s adversity-filled season last year and the trusting relationship he has fostered with Wolfpack offensive coordinator Matt Canada.

“I told him when he got here that he would have a chance to be the CEO of the offense,” Doeren said. “It was his package and his system and his players and if that’s what he was looking for then he should come here, because I needed a guy who wanted that responsibility.”

The job and the catchy job title indeed are Brissett’s.

What unfolds in August training camp and the 2014 season remains to be seen.